Our Carbon Offset Program

The Southern Plains Land Trust’s network of shortgrass prairie preserves protect not only biodiversity, they can help you offset your carbon footprint by protecting grasslands that sequester carbon to protect the Earth’s climate. The prairie is the inverse of the rainforest – most of the biomass in rainforests is above-ground in lush vegetation and tall trees, while most of the biomass in the prairie is below-ground, in the native grasses’ thick roots that stretch many feet deep and form dense mats. Less vulnerable to impacts from drought and fire, the prairie’s underground carbon sink makes grassland preservation a stable and long-term approach to addressing climate change.

SPLT has enrolled our two largest preserves, Raven’s Nest Nature Preserve and Heartland Ranch, under the Climate Action Reserve’s Grassland Protocol. These properties sequester over 10,000 metric tonnes of carbon annually. Sale of these carbon credits creates the ultimate feedback loop: carbon sales generate revenue for SPLT to protect more grasslands, which sequester more carbon and provide refuges for more wildlife. Among the wildlife beneficiaries is the US National Mammal: the American bison, which SPLT has reintroduced to its Heartland Ranch preserve. By participating in SPLT’s carbon program, you’ll help the climate, as well as bison, pronghorn, prairie dogs, and other uniquely North American species native to the Great Plains.

Photograph by Sean Boggs – Environmental Defense Fund

Offset Your Rally Footprint

SPLT is partnering with the Land Trust Alliance (LTA) to enable participants of Rally 2019: The National Land Conservation Conference in Raleigh, NC to voluntarily offset carbon emissions from travel. They are offered at $20/metric tonne and 100% of the proceeds will be allocated to furthering SPLT’s mission of creating and protecting a network of shortgrass prairie preserves.

All carbon credits sold for Rally 2019 will be 2019 vintage. SPLT will deliver these serial-numbered credits to LTA via retirement through the Climate Action Reserve Registry after the close of Rally 2019.